Abstracts
Ervin Gömbös: "UN60 – A Time for Renewal"
In his opening address the lecturer gave a brief account on the status of the United Nations at its 60th Anniversary. He emphasized that the major activities of the UN are important for every nations, and in many ways influence the lives of everyone all around the world. The agenda of the UN is very rich, it includes the maintenance of peace and security, struggle against poverty, implementation of humanitarian obligations, promotion of development, expansion of international law and human rights, and partnership with the wide strata of the civil society. These issues reflect the changing nature and increasing complexity of international affairs. In the 60 years’ history of the UN, we could very seldom hear such horrible forecasts about its future as we do today. The UN can come out of this situation strengthened, if it is exactly evaluated what has happened, and states think about what kind of World Organization they want in the future, and start working on the implementation of changes.
In the second part of the lecture the World Federation of the United Nations Associations (WFUNA) was introduced. WFUNA in many ways very similar to other international NGOs, but is has several particular characteristics as well. The most important one is that the "basis of its existence" is related to the UN. It is reflected by the fact that the UN General Assembly at its 41st session adopted a resolution (A41/680) requesting Member States to support national UN Associations, this way contributing to the strengthening of WFUNA and to the execution of tasks stemming from their membership. In the end the UNA of Hungary and its traditional programme, the UN ACADEMY was introduced briefly.
Jenő Boros: Hungary’s International Development Strategy and its Context
The lecture gave a brief overview about the institutional changes in the Hungarian Foreign Ministry after the country became an EU-member in order to realize its reformulated international development policy, what characterizes this policy and so far what has been achieved during the course of implementing development programs. The overall purpose of development is to decrease poverty, and to promote democratic changes, as well as peace and security, and the establishment of conditions for stable and sustainable development, and the empowerment of poor countries. The assistance to least developed countries is based on one of the most important principle of the EU, that is solidarity. Nowadays the EU is the biggest donor in the world. In 2001 the Hungarian Government elaborated a framework for its international development cooperation policy. Based on this, the development of the legal regulations and the establishment of the necessary institutions have started.
Tamás Szentes: Development and development assistance policy in the era of accelerating globalisation and regionalisation
In the last few decades substantial changes took place in the world economy, such as the system change in Eastern Europe, revolution in information and communication technologies, expansion of networking activities of TNCs, a wave of liberalisation, and due to the above, acceleration of globalisation and regionalisation, along with further deepening of the international development gap, which gives a background for globalising terrorism. Consequently, the major determinants of national development have also changed, the role of human and intellectual capital, R&D capacities and information services increased, new technologies and new dynamic sectors emerged, the strategies of TNCs and the role of the state accordingly modified, etc. New dangers appeared and new opportunities have opened for the countries of the South, which increasingly differentiated. Development cooperation policies are motivated partly by humanitarian solidarity, and partly by consideration of self-interest, as well as by international pressure, threats and obligations. Orientation and forms of development cooperation should be selective accordingly, and assistance should preferably be based on multilateralism and complementarities.
Mihály Simai: The UN and the Global Development Process (Retrospect and prospects)
The role of the UN system in Development Thinking and Practice is at once a history of the ideas and realities of international development, and an important factor in shaping the future of the development process. The mandate of the UN in development is from its charter, which at the very first time in human history made human welfare a central task of multilateral cooperation. The "development decades" the ideas and practices of development planning, the establishment of different institutions, like the UNDP, the progress in the field of humanitarian assistance, the organization of strategic global conferences on a number of crucially important global issues are all parts of the history of the World Organization in activities aiming at the promotion of development. The Millennium Development Goals became particularly important for the 21st century. They are setting agendas define the issues that need global political support. They have been playing a crucial role in the reintroduction and the refocusing of the development agenda. Despite its difficulties, the UN was able to build a holistic vision of what development should be by incorporating and integrating into its work important issues such as employment, poverty reduction, fairer distribution of the benefits of growth, equality of men and women, child development, social justice, and environmental sustainability.
Manbir Singh: Development Policy of India
Most of the problems confronting mankind today stem from lack of development and the resultant paucity of economic opportunities. Some of today’s conflicts flow out of a perceived sense of deprivation, inaccessibility to education, health, shelter, food and gainful employment. In this background, it is interesting to see how a country of more than a billion strong emerging into a free world after a history of colonialism and consequent underdevelopment seeks to raise the living standards of its people and give them the benefits of a reasonable standard of living.
India’s development in the first 40 years of its independence has been slow but steady. India has built up technical expertise as well as reasonable infrastructure to accelerate its development. From 1990 to 2004 the growth rate has been round 6 percent. With the kind of liberal and forward looking economic policies that are now being pursued by the Government aimed at integrating India in the globalised trading system, there is no doubt that the Indian economy will develop at a faster pace is well set to realize its potential.
Bernard Petit: “EC Contribution towards the MDGs"
For the first time in 2000 the international community agreed on a set of universal development objectives aimed at poverty reduction, the MDGs, which become the framework for the European Commission’s strategies and action on development cooperation.
Against this background, the Commission has been invited by the Council to prepare a consolidated EU report for the UN event of September 2005 in order to highlight the contribution of Member States and the Commission to achieve the MDGs but also to make proposals on the way forward in order to accelerate progress towards MDGs.
Four elements are crucial in the report of the Commission: increasing significantly ODA, increasing efficiency (harmonisation, alignment, coherence), develop new instruments, trade liberalisation.
Helen O’Neill: The MDGs and the Three Cs: Some Quantitative and Qualitative Aspects of UN and EU Development Goals
This paper begins by describing the origins and content of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - designed to halve poverty and improve the lives of the world’s poorest people by 2015 – which were accepted by the UN member states at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000. The paper suggests that there is little likelihood of reaching the goals in many developing countries (DCs) especially in sub-Saharan Africa. While the first seven goals are aimed at DCs, the eighth calls on action by industrialised countries especially in relation to increasing their official development assistance (ODA). The second part of the paper examines the promises made by EU member states in relation to increasing the quantity of their ODA as well as its quality as measured by the extent to which the three Cs (coordination, complementarity and coherence) are being practiced by the EU donors.
Loyd Dakin: Asylum-seekers and Refugees: A Development Challenge
Asylum-seekers and refugees are persons who are forced to flee their home countries due to persecution, or the reasonable fear of persecution, because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, political views, or social group. Very often the root-causes of the conflicts and human right abuses which force people to run for their lives are linked to problems such as poverty, inequity, discrimination and competition over scarce resources. These problems are often developmental in nature. If these problems are effectively and fairly addressed, then the causes of many refugee situations can be mitigated or even prevented. Equally, solutions to refugee situations are often development related because they require the rebuilding of destroyed economies and infrastructure as well as the creation of new livelihoods. It is therefore essential that the needs of refugees both in the countries that receive them and in their home countries, when conditions permit their voluntary return, are incorporated into development plans and programmes. The inclusion of asylum-seekers, refugees and returnees into development plans will allow them to achieve their full human potential by meeting their own needs, contributing positively to their new or former communities and rebuilding their lives.
Maria Kadlečikova: FAO and the International Development Cooperation
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) is celebrating its 60th anniversary. It was founded with the aim of ensuring humanity’s freedom from hunger. Yet, although the world now has abundant food supplies, there are still 852 million under-nourished people, mainly in developing countries. The agriculture sector is still called upon to produce more and more crops, meat and fish as well as fibers. It is expected that the World’s population will grow from six to nine billion over the next 30 years. We must feed it in ways that make sustainable use of natural resources, leaving land and water, forest and oceans intact to meet the needs of future generations. Therefore, steps are now being taken to begin a far-reaching process of reforms in FAO. If endorsed by member countries, FAO will thus respond better to the high expectations of developed as well as developing countries. FAO should represent a neutral forum to negotiate food and agricultural agreements of global concern and helping countries apply the food standards. FAO is revisiting its priorities and in order to address such an issues as migratory pests like locusts, guelea birds and army worms, which move in great number without respect for borders, destroying the crops and leaving millions of farmers deprived of their food supplies and livelihoods. Increasingly frequent agricultural emergencies have shown the importance of coordinating and effective international response to periodic droughts and floods, hurricanes and tsunamis.
FAO will also be reforming on capacity building, through increasing its training and institution strengthening activities. It will draw not only on the traditional sources of assistance from the North but also expand its South-South cooperation programme, tapping into the substantial pool of expertise in technical and socio-economic aspects of agriculture that now exists in developing countries.
Petra Ulshoefer: ILO’s contribution to a fair globalization through the Decent Work agenda
The Millennium Declaration calls for globalization to become a “positive force for all the world’s people". The report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, which was spearheaded by the ILO, responds to this by setting out the path towards a fair globalization. Fair globalization should start at home. For the ILO, this involves recognition that decent and productive work “in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity" is crucial for the achievement of national development goals. Consequently, social and economic progress must go hand in hand, based on the rule of law and human rights, with the effective participation and representation of the key interest groups, including workers’ and employers’ organisations. The ILO promotes Decent Work as a key component of national development policies, and our country programmes in this region put ILO’s knowledge, instruments and advocacy at the service of our tripartite constituents to advance this agenda.
Mihály Simai: Development Theories and Realities
Development theories, which have been "born" in the process of decolonization, are offering answers to the causes and consequences of backwardness and to the main social, political and economic conditions of introducing change in stagnant societies. These theories are representing different schools of thought in social sciences and integrate many disciplines.
Many important scholars belong into the field of development studies. Hungary has been also playing an important role in the progress of the discipline. Development studies contributed to the solution of many practical problems. In the 21st century the development process is influenced by a number of changes. One of the most important among them is the process of globalization. There have been major changes in the social and economic conditions of sustainable development, mainly due to the differentiation of the developing countries. The acceleration of the development process is a crucially important condition of the solution of social problems. This cannot be achieved without the radical improvement of the conditions of international cooperation.
Zoltán Bassa: Developing countries of the Far East
There are large differences between the development level of the Far Eastern countries. Indo-Chinese countries depend heavily on development assistance. Underdeveloped infrastructure is a legacy of earlier (civil) wars. HIV-AIDS and other infectious diseases as well as drug and human trafficking constitute a difficult challenge for each country. The 1997-98 financial crisis have affected the more developed and open economies of the Far Eastern region. These countries have recovered by now, except for Indonesia. In China, regional disparities, migration from rural to urban areas and the future of grain supply are the main problems. The most important donor country in development assistance is Japan. Besides the UN, the Asian Development Bank runs the largest development projects. During the 1990s, the countries of the region, including China have improved their mutual relations making regional co-operation more possible than ever.
Péter Farkas: Main Regions of the Developing Countries and their Characteristics
Additionally, short reflections on Africa and the Near East
The chapter reviews first the main groups of the developing countries, focusing on their place in the international division of labour and the level of their development. The multicolored terminology of this group of countries, that reflects value judgment as well, is also mentioned. The chapter introduces those mechanisms of the world economy that led to their increasing differentiation, reflected in their per capita income as well. Finally the economy of Africa and the Near East is presented. In the case of Africa, not only the reasons of the marginalisation are introduced, but the regions and country groups of special situation. As the Near East is concerned, the oil income of the region in the second half of the 80"ies decreased on the half of the previous period that gives a good explanation for the strengthening of the fundamentalism. (The situation in Latin-America and South- and East-Asia is discussed in detail in the following chapter.)
Mihály Simai: Global problems of Poverty and Development Cooperation
There is a wide global gap between the poor and the rich. This gap was not so wide during the past centuries between countries in the distribution of income and wealth, in the development of science and technology, in the level of economic development. Poverty remained a major global problem, in spite of the fact, that some countries have been able to mitigate the worst forms of misery. In many parts of the world, including the transition countries there has been an increase in the number and proportion of the poor. According to the statistics, from among the poor people, about one billion live in the countryside. Child poverty is a particularly important and difficult problem. In the developing world, rural poverty will be gradually transferred to the cities due to internal migration. According to past experiences poverty can be mitigated in market system only by the creation of specific conditions. These include the acceleration of economic growth and its sustainability, the harmonization of population growth with economic development, large and lasting demand for labor, land reforms, etc. The Copenhagen Social Summit and the Millennium Summit in 2000 have been important milestones in the struggle against poverty in the UN. The Millennium Development Goals anticipated the reduction of the worst forms of poverty by 50 percent until 2015.
Judit Kiss: World trade, financial affairs and the developing countries
On the basis of the most recent statistical data the lecture analyses the trade and financial situation of the developing countries, with special regard to their position in world trade, indebtedness and financial support granted to them. The world economic position of the developing countries is expressed by the fact that with an 85% share of world population, they produced less than half of world GDP in 2003, gave only 26.6% of world exports and received 20% of foreign direct investments. While their foreign trade balance on goods was positive in 2003 (USD 246 billion), the balance on services was negative (USD 62 billion). Though their balance on current account has been positive since 2000, their capital and financial account had a deficit of USD 178 billion in 2003. The USD 2724 billion external debts of the developing countries could only slightly be counterbalanced by the USD 69 billion inflow of official development assistance in 2003. It is questionable whether the special and differentiated treatment provided for the developing countries at the Doha WTO-round would really improve their world economic position.
Erika Fodor: The initiation of international and Hungarian humanitarian aid policy
Actualities regarding the Southeast Asian tsunami disaster.
The importance of humanitarian aid activity in international relations has significantly increased during the last years. An increasing proportion of funds is channeled for humanitarian purposes due to the ever growing number and severity of natural disasters. The statistics revealed as Official Humanitarian Aid (OHA) by the OECD DAC has during the period of 1990-2000 grown from 5,63% of the total Official Development Assistance to 10,5% and this increase is continuous.
The Hungarian humanitarian aid activity since Hungary’s accession to the European Union has exceedingly been transformed in order to successfully connect to the work of the community’s ECHO. The Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates the governmental and civilian humanitarian aid cooperation and oversees the country’s participation in the international humanitarian aid community. This has particularly assisted to the success of Hungary’s role in the international relief assistance in the wake of the Southeast Asian tsunami of 2004. The contribution of the Hungarian government - including the offer for the extension of tied aid - has summed a total of HUF 4260 million, whilst the amount of money gained from charity counted HUF 1500 million.
Mihály Simai: Civil Society and the Development Process
In current analysis of civil society in poor, emergent, transitional and industrialized societies, one can discern two underlying understandings of the term - the political and the sociological conceptions. The political conception of civil society is rooted in the Anglo-American tradition of liberal-democratic theory which identifies civic institutions and political activity as an essential component of the emergence of a particular type of political society based on the principles of citizenship, rights, democratic representation and the rule of law. The contribution made by civil society to development is essentially concerned with the means by which organized interests seek to influence and engage in the process. They usually help to strengthen state legitimacy and relations of trust between public officials and ordinary citizens. Civil society organizations can play a role in mobilizing particular constituencies to participate more fully in politics and public affairs. They are playing a very important role in the development process in different areas. The role of NGOs in humanitarian assistance is indispensable. They are transferring important resources and offering voluntary work in difficult situations.
Mihály Simai: Churches and the Social Challenges of the 21st Century’s World
The paper is dealing with the role of church organizations in the interpretation and management of global problems, mainly of the social problems. Religions, through the positive role of their value system and also their role in division among people have influenced history during the past thousand years. The larger churches built those institutions also in the past by which they could play an active role in international life in areas, important for them, in order to harmonize and influence their constituencies. These institutions have been credible and influential bodies, capable also to elaborate longer term strategies and promote their implementation. More and more churches developed specific bodies for international diplomacy and for cooperation in multilateral agencies. The future of churches in the 21st century will depend to a great extent on their effective role in helping the solution of the main social problems of the world, including the mitigation of poverty and inequalities. Most of their followers belong into the category of poor and vulnerable people.
Sándor Surányi: International Developmental Cooperation in Africa
The ambition and enthusiasm characterized by the development prospects of Africa in the 1970s had been replaced by stagnation and disillusion. The continent has completely been left out from the global process of development and its periphery position has been deepening. The earlier system of development aid failed to fulfill the expectations, the gap and internal differentiation had been growing. But the last couple of years raise cautious optimism in this regard. The Millennium Declaration of the United Nations paid special attention to the development of the African countries and the responsibility of the developed world is increasingly felt in the field of development assistance. It should be concentrated to such areas as the strengthening of the democracy, development of regional and sub-regional mechanisms to prevent internal conflicts and to establish political stability. It can’t be pursued without the cancellation of debts, improving the market access, rational utilization of assistance, eradication of extreme poverty and the prevention of AIDS and other epidemics. But it should be stressed, that all of this is impossible without the active cooperation of the African states and the elaboration of new forms of cooperation. Besides the USA and other countries and institutions of the developed world the European Union also takes active role in this process.
Adrie de Groot: Multilateral Development Programmes (UNIDO)
The lecture presents UNIDO as one of the specialized agencies of the United Nations, and outlines its three main priority areas for international development cooperation: “Trade Capacity Building"; “Poverty Reduction through Productive Activities", and “Energy and Environment". It then explains how UNIDO works in developing countries, through projects and integrated programmes, emphasizing the importance of cooperation with other international organizations and local partners in each priority area, in order to address development issues in a comprehensive and effective manner. UNIDO is promoting this practical model for increased cooperation within the UN as part of the current UN wide reform discussions.
Péter Jakab: Hungary’s Participation in the Development Assistance
The presentation described the international background of the Hungarian International Development Cooperation (IDC) Programme, with a special emphasis on the tasks and opportunities brought about by the Hungarian accession to the European Union, the largest donor community in the world. It also outlined the principles of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), the Millennium Development Goals and the commitments of the EU member states regarding these objectives. The legal and institutional background of the Hungarian ODA (Official Development Assistance) Programme was described in detail: Government Decree 82/2003 (07.06.) modified the responsibilities and competence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs with the IDC activities, Government Decision 2121/2003 (06.06.) established the IDC Interdepartmental Committee (IDC IC), presided by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. IDC IC is assisted by the Interdepartmental Expert Group. The role of the Civil Advisory Board is to present the different opinions of various groups of society in the formation of the Hungarian ODA policy. The IDC Committee in the MoFA prepares the decisions on the support of the development projects. The MoFA submits reports to the Foreign Affairs Committee and Budget Committee of the Parliament annually. Capacity building formed an important part of the establishment of the IDC Programme, supported by UNDP, ODACE and the EU Task Force. The partner countries and fields of cooperation were also presented, underlining the importance of knowledge transfer and technical assistance regarding Hungarian experience in transition management and the accession process. The financial resources of the programme, the achievements of 2003 and 2004 as well as future tasks and challenges, especially the planned introduction of international development education (DevEd) studies in Hungary and raising public awareness in order to build a strong constituency for IDC were also discussed.